A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official discussed with acting governor Ralph DLG Torres on Thursday the status of feasibility studies for repairs and upgrades to the Tinian and Rota harbors.<\/p>\n
Derek J. Chow, chief of the Civil and Public Works branch, said they need a local match to federal fiscal years 2015 and 2016 dollars to move ahead with the study.<\/p>\n
In an interview, Chow noted how the reported large number of close-outs\u2014hazardous wave conditions that prevent barges from entering Rota harbor\u2014has called for additional upgrades. He also noted that the Tinian harbor\u2019s breakwater\u2014a sheet pile with rubble around it\u2014is \u201cvery deteriorated and provides minimal protection\u201d for vessels.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Chow said the Inos administration also asked the Army Corps for assistance on reconfiguring the defunct Outer Cove Marina, erosion control at Managaha, and reconstructing damaged or destroyed infrastructure after Typhoon Soudelor. Chow said he expects a formal letter from Torres on these requests.<\/p>\n
The harbor feasibility study is a three-year study with a total cost to the CNMI government at about $1 million, Chow said. This amount can be broken up into annual increments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had federal money [for fiscal year 2015] but we haven\u2019t had local money, but as soon as we get their money we\u2019ll be able to get our 2015 and 2016 dollars,\u201d Chow told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
He said the administration signed an agreement with the Army Corps in September on the feasibility, design, and construction phases of the project, and that congressional authorization is needed to get from the feasibility to the construction phases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the feasibility study. The feasibility report or study we are going to do refers to the engineering, the conceptual design. We are going to prepare cost estimates\u2026we are going to do all the environmental studies and analysis and likely be producing an environmental impact statement. And we are also going to do the cost and economic analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that is going to be rolled up into a report so we can recommend to Congress whether this is something worthy of federal investment or not. So that\u2019s the whole purpose of this feasibility study\u2014to do enough of the design, do enough of the environmental, do enough of the cost analysis so we can make a recommendation to Congress if this is something Congress should invest in,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Chow said if there is positive indication that Congress will invest in the project, the report will be forwarded to Congress and the Army Corps will proceed to design and then to construction once Congress has authorized the project.<\/p>\n
Chow could not disclose where the Inos administration will get the money for the local match but gave a timeline of \u201cprobably sometime next week\u201d on the funding coming in.<\/p>\n
Other initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n Chow said Torres has asked for assistance in looking at what the federal government can do reconfigure the Outer Cove Marina to make it more efficient.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is writing a letter right now,\u201d he said, adding that Torres has asked for help with Managaha and erosion. \u201cSending a letter allows us to seek federal funding to provide assistance.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026That exposed shoreline [on Managaha] is being eroded by waves and currents. So he wants us to look at what is possible in trying to reduce or abate that erosion.<\/p>\n First we\u2019d do an engineering study on what direction the waves come from and then we\u2019ll propose options\u2014even at the marina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Managaha, the Army Corps will look at what kind of structures can be built or if it\u2019s possible to use natural means like vegetation to slow down or stop the erosion, Chow said.<\/p>\n He said the administration has also asked for federal assistance in reconstruction after Typhoons Soudelor and is gathering all federal agencies to see \u201cwhat they can do\u201d about this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official discussed with acting governor Ralph DLG Torres on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[464,7463,44,6333],"class_list":["post-214592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-army-corps","tag-outer-cove-marina","tag-study","tag-typhoon-soudelor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}